Mismatched
by Monday
Summary: Damaged puzzle pieces won't stay together and Team 7 was doomed from beginning. [Oneshot]


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Naruto**  
When Sakura doesn't thank him for saving her from Gaara, he finds he doesn't care that she thinks it was Sasuke who saved her. In fact, he's relieved because he won't have to smile in a fake way that no one notices, at her gratitude. He won't have to run back to his apartment at the first opportunity and laugh hysterically at the sheer selfishness of his actions.

Because he didn't stop Gaara because he cared about Sakura -though he does-, just like he didn't nearly kill Haku because he loved Sasuke-though he does and thinks he always will, and is slightly scared about that.- He did it because if they'd died he'd have no one and he never wants to be alone again.

In this way the villagers have secured his loyalty to Konoha more than the Hokage or the academy ever could. For most of his life he has been so lonely that even when Sakura and Sasuke are shoved towards him instead of coming by their own choice, he knows he will die for them. And even if he loses every single one of his ties to Konohagakure, Naruto doesn't think he'll be able to leave.

He'll stay simply because it's his home and that swing over there is where he lost his first tooth and he met Iruka for the very first time by those steps. He knows he could run away, run so far that he'll never know if one of his precious people dies. And he knows that if he went somewhere where people smiled back at him, he'd always be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

After all demons don't get happy ends and no matter what Iruka and the Hokage say, Naruto knows _exactly _what he is.

So Naruto protects every single one of his precious people with his life so they won't leave him alone. And he tells himself it doesn't matter if he's doing it for them or for himself, as long as the result is the same and they're still breathing.

**Sasuke**  
The first time Sasuke realises Naruto has become more than that idiot needed to balance out the team he is surprised. It hadn't been a special day when it had happened; just an ordinary D-rank mission and Naruto had done something stupid. For the life of him, Sasuke will never remember what it was that happened. What he _will _remember is the small bubble of laughter that floated up his throat from his stomach and almost escaped his mouth. He will remember wanting to laugh for the simple joy of laughter, no taint of spite, for the first time in years. He doesn't laugh, -not on this day at least. Instead he shoves any and all goodwill he feels towards the dobe to the back of his mind and watches him for a moment beneath the sun, wondering what has changed.

His eyes rest on Naruto for only a few seconds but somehow, Kakashi, with his head deep in his orange book, manages to know and Sasuke spends the rest of the day restraining the urge to carve the knowing look out of his eye.

It isn't until a few days later that he remembers his brother's words. A little voice in the back of his head tells him it took much too long for him to remember his duty. Softly it whispers, sometimes in his father's voice, sometimes his mother's, that he has forgotten his vow, forgotten his clan, forgotten his destiny. Itachi's words slip once more into his mind and again he is a pathetic little boy, not even worth killing.

So, for a while he hates Naruto. He puts a little too much power into his punches and he gets that much faster. And Kakashi watches, shrewd and silent.

It takes him even longer to realise that he is pushing Naruto away when he should be pulling him closer. And the voices have come back, taunting his weaknesses, his lack of determination until he wants to scream at Naruto for being so easy to love and to hate. So he decides to shove all thoughts of the future to the back of his mind and let whatever happens, happen.

And maybe something inside him hurts when Naruto smiles cheerfully up at him from the ground, but Sasuke tells himself that this pain, his pain, will make the mangekyou that much stronger and Itachi's death come that much quicker.

**Sakura**  
If life is like a book then Sakura thinks that Sasuke is the main character. He's not the innocent boy most heroes are, not the fumbling boy that stumbles upon the winning strategy, but Sakura is certain Sasuke will save the world one day. She ignores that he's the one that might need the saving.

Kakashi is the all knowing mentor even if he _is_ a perverted slob with a creepy smile. After all, in books all the _good_ teachers are mysterious and while she can think of many less flattering words to describe her sensei, mysterious certainly fits the bill.

Naruto is harder to place. Some days he's the sidekick, others, the rival. She settles with saying he is a secondary character and leaves it at that. She never thinks she might have to change it even as the wide gap between Sasuke and Naruto is becomes increasingly smaller and even the high and mighty Sasuke has noticed Naruto's not quite the dobe anymore.

After little thought she places herself as the love interest for the main character. That they're much too young for love of that sort means nothing to her and she stubbornly ignores the small, insecure voice in her head that murmurs Ino would be a much better girlfriend than her. And hey, so what if four times out of fives she ends up on her bed, trying not to cry because Sasuke has rejected her againLove is hard.

All the books say so and Sakura knows that books are the key to life. After all books are what got her on Sasuke's team and if she wasn't supposed to be with Sasuke, fate would have intervened and made her a little less smart. Thus it must be destined.

_-It never occurs to her that if she switches Naruto and Sasuke not only does everything work better but she'd be much happier. She never looks at Naruto long enough to see.-_

So instead of training, Sakura curls up in her bed and loses herself in stories written just like the real world. No matter that she's not getting any stronger and they aren't chasing cats anymore.

No one dies in stories.

**oo0O0oo**

And Kakashi? Kakashi sees all their flaws but he doesn't do anything, doesn't try to change anything because he misses the uncomplicated solidarity of a team. The simplicity he lost when Obito died and everything went to hell.

So instead of sitting them down one by one to talk, he closes his eye in a half-moon, smiles cheerfully over their heads and hopes everything won't fall to pieces like it has every other time before.


End file.
